A swim race is relatively simple to understand: Whoever touches the wall first wins.
But a swim meet is more complex. Coaches have to acutely understand their team’s strengths and weaknesses, hoping to exploit matchups that will yield them the highest point total at the end of the day.
The delicate game of wits that is an NCAA dual swim meet was on display Friday at the O’Connell Center Natatorium when the Florida women lost to Georgia 158.5-141.5, while the men tied 150-150.
The final event of the day for both the men and the women was the 400-meter freestyle relay. Going into the event, the Florida women trailed Georgia 147.5-135.5, while the men were behind 144-139.
The Gators’ coaches had some tricky lineup decisions to make to give the teams their best chance to win.
On the women’s side, Florida had to be greedy with its choice in swimmers because the only way the Gators would steal the victory was with a first- and second-place finish.
“We had an opportunity to win, so we tried to split our relay teams hoping to get a 1-2 finish,” Florida coach Gregg Troy said Monday.
If the Gators had gotten their dream finish, they would have emerged with a miraculous 150.5-149.5 victory, but Florida finished second and third instead, falling agonizingly short.
While the women only had one option going into that final race, the UF men had a more difficult decision on their hands.
To outscore the Bulldogs, the Gators needed a first- and third-place finish, so the Florida coaches had to decide whether to split up their relay teams as the women did, or stick with their usual A and B squads.
“We felt our B relay could have beaten their B relay, but we fell a little short,” Troy said.
The Florida A relay team won the race, with Georgia’s A team coming in second.
The meet would be decided by whichever school’s B team could touch the wall first.
The Bulldogs secured that third-place result by only 0.16 seconds, preserving the tie for Georgia, and showing once again that after all of the preparation and analysis going into the race is finished, swimming is really about who can touch that wall first.
This game of wits will take place once again today at 5 p.m. as Florida State comes to the O’Connell Center Natatorium hoping to reverse the results from the All-Florida Invitational last month, when the Gators dominated the Seminoles en route to a season-opening victory.
